"He Just Won't Sit Still Doctor!"

This is Howard Dully. At the age of 12 his father and step-mother decided that he should undergo a Transorbital or Prefrontal Lobotomy to help control his behavior. Since marrying Mr. Dully, the new Mrs. Dully had increasing trouble putting Howard to bed.

"He objects to going to bed but then sleeps well. He does a good deal of daydreaming and when asked about it says 'I don't know.' He turns the room's lights on when there is broad daylight outside."

The transorbital lobotomy is performed by slightly nudging the eyeball aside so an icepick can be pushed through the paper-like bone at the front of the skull, then into the frontal lobe of the brain. Once there the icepick is "jiggled" slightly destroying parts of the brain's frontal lobe that control behavior.

Ironically in Howard's case the parts of his brain destroyed by lobotomy were the ones that control critical thinking and impulse control, in turn making his condition worse. He was finally send to an institution so his father and step-mother could enjoy a quite evening at home.

There is a bright side to the story however. Because Howard was so young at the time of his lobotomy his brain was able to re-write new pathways around the damaged area, and today there are no physical signs of his having had been lobotomized. But as Howard explains it "It feels like there is a piece of my soul missing."

If a pill of Ritalin or a capsule of Zoloft looked like an icepick do you think people might think twice about using it to control the behavior of their children. Ummmm...probably not. There is much information out there on Howard Dully's experience. Please look him up and read about him. He is the only lobotomy patient to have had his brain scanned three dimensionally by high resolution MRI.